Madam Speaker, I am pleased to be able to address this topic. I will try to give a little of the background in our province.
I am saddened to see my colleague rise and say that, if the New Democrats were in office, the problem would be worse in ten years than it is now. I can tell you that all the poverty we are seeing today is a legacy from Brian Mulroney's Conservatives.
They were followed by the Liberals, the opposition back then, who said “Elect us and we will do better”. We have never been in such bad shape as we are now. It is all very fine and well to take the tack they are taking, to speak about the economy and how to invest money and reap the benefits, but I can guarantee you Canada never saw as many hungry children as it did under those two governments. It was because of those governments.
I find it really sad that, today, someone from my region, my colleague the hon. member, cannot grasp the fact that families are living in such poverty and that the Canada pension plan, with all the money that goes into it, plays no part in getting the economy moving again.
The problem is that the Conservatives and the Liberals have simply taken money and given it to their friends, the major corporations, in $100 million and $400 million chunks. This is why our economy is in such a sorry state today. There is too much patronage, that is the problem.
Liberal and Conservative members make me think of employment centres. There are the employees and the poor people that have to go to see them about jobs, and if they are not Liberals or Conservatives, they do not get a job. This is why Canada is so far in the hole. This is why Atlantic Canada is always impoverished. Governments have never carried out their responsibilities in the Atlantic provinces. They talk about national unity, but the day Canada considers all the provinces in the country, fewer children in the Atlantic provinces will suffer. I am ashamed of the previous speaker.